Fortress of São Miguel

The Fortress of São Miguel in Luanda is a highly visible old landmark of Luanda, the Angolan capital. It is located on the so-called old mountain of São Paulo (referring to the first São Paulo de Loanda Attribution ), in the immediate vicinity of the land bridge to Ilha do Cabo.

The fortress was built in 1576 at the behest of the city's founder and first governor Paulo Dias de Novais as a massive defense plant in the first year after the settlement by the Portuguese in 1575. On a huge area so was a fixture made ​​of thick masonry in a polygonal shape.

History

Of 24 August 1641 to 15 August 1648 Fort and the city fell to the Dutch West India Company. In the reconquest by the Portuguese castle was the scene of a first major attack, which ended with the surrender and expulsion of the Dutch troops.

The Fortress of São Miguel has long been a warlike symbol of Portuguese presence in Angola, this mainly to protect the harbor and the settlement Luanda and the increasingly important slave trade. Slaves were procured in the interior and imprisoned in factories before they were shipped on the way to America. The fort was also clear signal to other colonial powers who were equally eager for hegemony in the region. The fort is still fully intact.

This important historical monument is now the Central Museum of the Army ( Museo das Armadas de Angola forcas ). It belongs to the government and is located after a renovation in good condition. The responsibility for its maintenance and preservation, the Defence and Ministry of Culture.